Epoxy priming hull – raised “waterline” antifouling.

[moresparks]

Having spent a good number of hours of removing 25 years plus of old antifouling I now have a nicely prepared hull all suitably sanded ready for epoxy priming and re-antifouling.
I am leaning towards Gelshield at the moment due to ease of simplicity in applying (relatively), but – it requires 5 coats. Like many of the powerboats of the same era, the antifouling has been substantially raised at the bow and stern way above the waterline.
The question is - do I Epoxy the hull right up to the raised waterline with the full 5 coats?
I have looked at trying to polish back to the original hull colour but this won’t look well due to age and fading.
I was thinking of tapering the epoxy coating by lifting slightly on each coat for the boot topping and then just one final coat of epoxy up to the old raised antifouling line.
Is this a good idea or would a conventional primer be better at the raised waterline?
Suggestions gratefully received.

 

[Scubadoo]

I don't think you have much choice really, as the raised waterline is already sanded, but I guess it could be restored back but that would take some effort. If it were me I would just epoxy to the waterline and apply the 5 coats. Also the waterline will change depending on what you add onboard, so take that into consideration as well. I didn't use Gelshield when I did mine, but the product I used (can't remember that name) required 5 coats, in my case it was a real problem finding good weather to get it done. Also I had two different colours of epoxy (grey & white) so I could see each coat coverage etc, the last coat being white.

 

[moresparks]

Hopefully you can see the image as a picture speaks volumes.
The light blue is above the waterline so you can see its a fair amount.

 

[jfm]

I'd get rid of the raised waterline - not pretty - and polish back to the underlying gelcoat. I get the point about fading but in a few years it will be ok and it will still look immediately better. Just imho
Another plan would be to have new gel sprayed onto the triangle of raised waterline. It could then be a slightly faded colour. and the fact there is the chine corner means it doesn't have to be a 100% perfect colour match

 

[moresparks]

This is what it currently looks like. the raised waterline is the whole length of the boat and is raised at the stern. So this would be quite a task to polish that amount I am not sure if their are minor scratches as a result of removing the antifouling and general use so I need to investigate this further.
The twin dark blue linen is just a vinyl stripe and can be replaced.
Thank you for your responses.

 

[Scubadoo]

I can see your point, how about trying wet&dry grade I think 2000 of even higher and see what that looks like above the water line.